DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The claim now recites wherein the sliding surface “includes a first straight line,” and the inclined surface “includes second and third straight lines,” but a line is not a physical structure, and thus it is unclear exactly what physical components are considered to be “included” as the lines.
Further, it is not clear from the illustration in Applicant’s arguments to what exactly the second and third straight lines are intended to refer. If the inclined surface of the present invention is item 17, as detailed in the specification, it would not appear any portion of the inclined surface is even parallel with the vertical direction, as would seem to be required by the claims.
Clarification is required.
Because all other claims depend from claim 1, they are also rejected on this basis.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakata et al. (2015/0009263) in view of Asai et al. (5,501,526).
Regarding claim 1, Nakata teaches a recording apparatus comprising:
a carriage (fig. 3, item 17) on which a liquid ejection head (fig. 3, item 18) that ejects a liquid is mounted, the carriage being reciprocally movable in a scanning direction (fig. 1, direction X);
a guide member (fig. 2, item 35) that extends in the scanning direction (see fig. 2) with a width in a vertical direction (see fig. 2, note that anything can be said to have “a width in a vertical direction”) and that guides movement of the carriage in the scanning direction ([0052]); and
a sliding member (fig. 3, item 30B) that is attached to an attachment surface (fig. 3, item 30A) of the carriage and has a sliding surface (fig. 3, surface 30B) that slides with a guide surface of the guide member via a lubricant ([0052]), in a case where the carriage moves in the scanning direction ([0052]).
Nakata does not teach any of the particulars of its sliding member, and thus Nakata does not teach wherein the carriage includes an inclined surface (1) capable of contacting with the lubricant on the guide member wherein the inclined surface, which is not in contact with the sliding member, is inclined such that, closer toward the sliding member in the scanning direction, a gap formed in the vertical direction between the inclined surface and the guide surface becomes smaller, wherein the inclined surface is provided at only one side of the sliding member in the scanning direction.
Asai teaches this (Asai, col. 9, lines 41-53, fig. 6(a), Note sliding member 5a and top half of inclined surface at bottom of rightmost portion 2, and note that a gap is formed between the inclined surface and a guiding surface so as to allow for lubricant to enter the gap. Note that, as defined above, the inclined surface is not in contact with the sliding member, and note that the inclined surface “covers” a side surface of the sliding member. Again, note that the inclined surface has been redefined as the top half of the inclined portion of the rightmost one of items 2, and this the inclined surface is provided at only one side of the sliding member in the scanning direction). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to substitute the sliding member/inclined surface disclosed by Asai with the sliding member disclosed by Nakata because doing so would amount to a simple substitution of one known sliding arrangement for another to obtain predictable results.
Upon combination of Asai with Nakata, the resultant device would have an inclined surface (2) projecting farther toward an outer side of the carriage in the scanning direction than the attachment surface of the sliding member, wherein a gap is provided between the sliding surface and the inclined surface in the scanning direction.
Nakata in view of Asai does not wherein a width of the inclined surface in the vertical direction is larger than a width of the sliding member in the vertical direction. However, according to MPEP 2144.04, a change in shape is not patentable if one of skill in the art would have found such a change in shape obvious absent persuasive evidence that such a change was significant. Here, one of skill would have found it obvious to modify the width of the inclined portion to either increase or decrease lubricant spreading.
Regarding the first, second and third straight lines, see figs. 1-3. The added claim language is believed by Examiner to be meant to highlight the fact that the claimed sliding member contacts a vertical guide surface so that the sliding member and inclined surfaces overlap the guide surface when viewed in the subscan direction. Nakata teaches this. Upon substitution of the sliding member/inclined surface of Asai for that disclosed by Nakata, it is believed the resultant arrangement would teach the claimed lines.
Regarding claim 2, Nakata in view of Asai teaches the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inclined surface extends, in a direction in which the sliding surface faces the guide surface, to a location in front of the sliding surface with respect to the scanning direction (Asai, fig. 6(a), Nakata, fig. 15).
Regarding claim 4, Nakata in view of Asai teaches the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the width of the inclined surface in the orthogonal direction is larger than width of the guide surface in the orthogonal direction (see claim 1 rejection).
Regarding claim 7, Nakata in view of Asai teaches the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inclined surface has an inclination angle of 20° or more and less than 90° (Asai, fig. 6(a))).
Regarding claim 8, Nakata in view of Asai teaches the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sliding member is provided at one end portion of the carriage in the scanning direction (Nakata, see fig. 13, Note guide surfaces 55).
Regarding claim 13, Nakata in view of Asai teaches the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sliding member is provided at a lower part of the carriage (Nakata, fig. 3, Note that “a lower part of the carriage” could mean any number of things).
Claim(s) 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakata in view of Asai as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lemens et al. (2003/0010170).
Regarding claim 14, Nakata in view of Asai teaches the recording apparatus according to claim 1. Nakata in view of Asai does not teach wherein a hole is provided in an upper surface of the guide member, wherein the hole enables the carriage to be retracted upward. Lemens teaches this (Lemens, fig. 5, Note removable guide portion 79 that exposes a hole through which cutter carriage 82 can be removed upward). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time od invention to add the hole disclosed by Lemens to any other reciprocating carriage device, including the inkjet printer of Nakata in view of Asai, because doing so would allow for the removal an replacement/maintenance of any reciprocating-type carriage.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot in light of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
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/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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